Fast Food Makes Up 11% of Calories in U.S. Diet

THURSDAY, Feb. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Fast food fare from restaurants such as McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Pizza Hut accounted for more than 11 percent of the calories in American adults' daily diets in recent years, federal health officials reported Thursday.

Yet that's lower than it was from 2003 to 2006, when fast food contributed an average of nearly 13 percent of daily calories to the American diet, said report author Cheryl Fryar, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Whether this is an ongoing trend isn't clear, Fryar added. Several factors were examined, to see how they related to how many daily calories U.S. adults got from fast food between 2007 and 2010.

"We could see a difference by age group," Fryar noted. "As you get older, the percentage of calories from fast food declines."

One expert sees this as a positive trend.

"The good news from this study is that as we get older, perhaps we do get wiser and eat less fast food," said Samantha Heller, a clinical nutritionist at the NYU Center for Musculoskeletal Care in New York City.

"However, a take-home message is that the study suggests that the more fast food you eat, the fatter you get," Heller said.

Thank you for submitting your response.

Good to Know is a new feature that allows members of the community to answer questions from WebMD experts, doctors, staff, and other community members. We're testing this new feature and we'd like your feedback.

Healthy Recipe Finder

Browse our collection of healthy, delicious recipes, from WebMD and Eating Well magazine.